A sample of 33 eclipsing binaries observed in a field of the SMC with FLAMES @ VLT is presented .
The radial velocity curves obtained , together with existing OGLE light curves , allowed the determination of all stellar and orbital parameters of these binary systems .
The mean distance modulus of the observed part of the SMC is 19.05 , based on the 26 most reliable systems .
Assuming an average error of 0.1Â mag on the distance modulus to an individual system , and a gaussian distribution of the distance moduli , we obtain a 2 - \sigma depth of 0.36Â mag or 10.6Â kpc .
Some results on the kinematics of the binary stars and of the H i i gas are also given .